


Unlikely

by HazelBludger110



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Babysitting Drunk Girls, Cheating, Clarke Griffin & Raven Reyes Friendship, Clarke's POV, Cliche, Developing Friendships, Drunkenness, F/M, Female Friendship, Fluff, I'm Bellarke trash though so I can't help myself, Mildly Dubious Consent, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2019-12-18 13:42:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18251009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelBludger110/pseuds/HazelBludger110
Summary: And maybe she was crazy after all, caring about a stranger that turned out to be her boyfriend’s (more?) significant other.ORClarke and Raven meet and somehow find themselves in an unlikely friendship.





	1. The Third Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello! I've been work on this on and off for a little while now and figured I'd start posting what I have so far. The first chapter's a little slow, just laying the groundwork here, but I think we pick up pretty quickly after that. The whole story is going to take place within a 24 hour period. Okay, I think that's it, thanks for reading!

Clarke had always been of the opinion that girls who hated the person their significant other cheated on them with were some of the worst types of people. At least the ones that blamed the other person more than they blamed the person they were in a (supposedly) committed relationship with. Your significant other is the one who made you promises about the future you were (apparently not) building together after all. Not the third party.

But as she stood in the doorway of Finn’s apartment watching a beautiful dark haired girl pulling her mouth off his penis it wasn’t Finn she felt the reaction to. She couldn’t help it. She kind of hated her, The Third Party Girl. It was instinct, involuntary. There was a sinking feeling, cold and tight in her chest before a surging rush of something hot and thick and livid crashed over her.

"Who the hell are you?" the girl had the audacity to asked.

"I’m the girlfriend of the guys dick you’re sucking, who the hell are you?" snapped Clarke.

Finn seemed able to function again at the sound of their voices, hurriedly trying to stuff himself back into his pants. As if its disappearance would erase what just happened. "Raven, I-"

"Are you kidding me?" Dark eyes narrowed and her hair whipped around her face as the mystery girl turned on Finn immediately, seething. "Are you fucking kidding me? Girlfriend? Is she serious? Are _ you _ serious? You promised Finn. No, you  _ swore-" _  Her voice cracked and she stopped short.

Finn reached for her, grabbing her arms and holding firm even as she tried to yank away from him "I know, I know I did. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Babe, stop, it- it didn’t- Listen, just let me explain, okay? It’s not like last time, it hasn’t even been going on that long! Raven- Raven, please, just-"

Clarke felt the burn that had been licking up her insides wither and die, realization crashing into her like a punch to the gut at his words. She watched the girl and all the animosity from just moments ago seeped out of her pores like sweat. Sobs wrenched from the other girl’s throat without her consent as her shoulders shook her entire frame while she desperately tried to pull away from him.

"No, let go! Let me go, Finn!" the girl, Raven, shouted. "You are supposed to be _marrying_ me but you’re fucking another girl, again. There’s no explaining that! I said get off me!"

Clarke felt a burst of something in her chest. Her eyes zeroed in on a ring that glittered innocently on the other girl’s finger. Clarke was The Third Party Girl. The Third Party Girl times like ten. They were  _ engaged _ . And even though she was unknowingly The Third Party Girl, she felt the shame crawling over her all the same. Thin curling tendrils of guilt snaked from her reddening face down to her toes. She dropped the bag of supplies in her arms as if it burned. He had texted her last minute to cancel their plans, claiming he was going to bed early after cramming for a case he was part of at the firm he worked at.

But she hadn’t wanted to be alone tonight. So she had gotten groceries to make him dinner and she had made glittery flashcards with suggestive commentary and god she didn’t think it was possible to feel more stupid than she felt right now. While she was watching him plead with his-his what? Fiancé?

Listening to him explain how it was nothing. She was nothing. It meant nothing.

It was 5 months. Not her longest relationship certainly, but it wasn’t nothing. It was still time she wouldn’t get back. Time spent thinking she was moving towards something tangible. Time spent looking up plane ticket costs to surprise him New Year's Eve after he’d gone home to his family for the winter break in a few days. Time spent exchanging a handful of 'I love you's with someone who didn’t mean it. It stung and she had to force a calming breath through her nose as she blinked the tears away. Someone that could do the things that he’s clearly done doesn't deserve to see the effect he has.

Clarke's eyes slid over to Raven’s face and inexplicably felt her heart break a little. She looked so torn, clearly warring with herself. It was becoming apparent that this wasn’t the first time a conversation like this occurred. Her eyes narrowed as Finn's voice drew her attention back.

"You know me, baby, you know what you mean to me. I made a mistake; you know I’d never hurt you on purpose. I love you, Raven. Come on, you know that. We’ve been through so much together, you can’t throw that away. How could you even think of doing that? I love you so much. Don't you love me too?" Finn finally let her arms drop but made no move to back off.

Clarke felt the heat start to crackle under her skin again, disgusted disbelief settling in. Was he really trying to turn it around now?

Raven looked alarmed suddenly at his words, reaching out for a split second towards him before catching herself. "Of course I love you." Her dark hair hid her face as she looked down at the carpet, mumbling. Shoulders tense and arms wrapped tightly around herself, Raven fell quiet.

And then Clarke was moving before she could stop herself.

"Yeah, no, this isn’t happening," she stated, forcefully business-like. Two pairs of eyes followed her as she moved swiftly toward them. Wedging herself firmly between them, Clarke pressed a hand to Finn’s chest and gave a push to make him take a step back. She glanced at the girl, seeing that she looked confused. Turning her back, Clarke faced Finn as she shielded the other girl behind her slightly. "You don’t get to make this her fault. You cheated Finn. You made that decision. She has every right to- just, no. This is ridiculous. I’m not going to stand here and-"

"No one is asking you to." Finn snapped. "What are you even doing here? I told you I was busy and you decided it was okay to what, just show up? Jesus, you're acting like some kind of crazy stalker.  Look, I don’t want you here." All traces of the charming and funny man she’d been spending all her free time with were gone. "So get out, Clarke." He took a step towards her, towering over her intimidatingly and pointing a finger to the still opened door.

Clarke could feel the lump in her throat again and swallowed roughly. She might have cried if the anger wasn’t churning so hotly in her stomach. His menacing behavior and accusations left her ears steaming. Clarke tilted her chin up defiantly, she didn’t back down from bullies and she wasn’t about to start.  "I will. And believe me, I won't be caught dead here ever again. But," Clarke glanced back at Raven, who was watching her with wary eyes. "Not until I know if...." she trailed off, though the meaning was clear.

And maybe she was  _ crazy _ after all, caring about a stranger that turned out to be her boyfriend’s (more?) significant other. But she couldn’t abandon her in a situation like this.

Raven’s eyes flitted up and down Clarke critically, before locking on to hers. "I’m fine," she said evenly, tear tracks now dried on her cheeks.

Clarke waited for a beat before giving a curt nod. At least she had tried. She strode over to the door, forcing herself not to look at Finn. She dipped down to pick up her bags and kicked the door closed forcefully behind her.

She made it down the hall and the first flight of stairs before the tears finally fell. Sinking onto the landing, she gulped in a shuddering breath and dropped her head back against the wall. Of all the shitty days in the last year, this might have made Top 5.

Clarke squeezed her eyes shut, sucking air in through clenched teeth and trying to slow her pounding heart. The adrenaline of confrontation buzzed in her veins and she hoped it passed soon. Along with how dry her mouth suddenly was despite the tears that kept chasing each other down her cheeks.

A few moments passed like that, Clarke sitting on the dirty brownish carpet of the landing with her fingertips digging into her thighs. Her nose was beginning to drip. Running her sleeve across it she swallowed thickly, trying to gather herself. She just needed to get to her car and get back to her apartment. Just needed to get a grip on herself. But images of her sitting on her couch exactly one year prior played behind her closed eyes. Books fanned out, highlighters in hand, letting her phone ring and go to voicemail in the kitchen. Clarke took in a shuttering breath, knocking her head back against the wall to bring herself back to the present. No. She could do this. She could-

"You okay?"

Clarke’s eyes flew open, surprised to see Raven in front of her. It was almost like a different girl was standing before her. There was no sign that she had been sobbing only a handful of minutes prior. Her face was clear and dry and composed. Her hair was pulled back away from her face in a high ponytail now, sleek and smooth. A thin red jacket hung loosely around her frame and she had a backpack hitched over her shoulder.  Clarke did notice that Raven's dark eyes weren’t quite meeting hers though, resting firmly on the wall an inch or two from Clarke’s face. The handle of a suitcase rested in one hand and the other was held, if Raven's face was anything to go by, reluctantly out to Clarke.

After a moment’s hesitation, she grasped the other girl's hand and pulled herself up. "I’m fine," she said after releasing Raven’s hand and dragging hers quickly across her eyes.

Raven gave a nod, still not looking at her, and moved past Clarke to continue down the stairs. Clarke hugged her grocery bag a little tighter to her chest and took another deep breath before following after her.

The air was biting once they stepped out onto the sidewalk. Clarke watched (pretty blatantly) as Raven just stood there for a moment before dropping down to sit on the curb, plucking a phone from her pocket.

"Do you-" Clarke cleared her throat to rid some of the tightness from it, glancing around. "Do you have a ride coming?"

Raven snorted. "Nope."

Clarke blinked. "So… you’re planning to just... sit here?:

"Yep." the other girl responded, eyes on her phone.

Clarke glanced around at the flurry of snow falling. She willed herself to stop talking, but the words kept coming. "It's cold," she said, admittedly rather dumbly, before adding hurriedly, "You shouldn't stay out here."

"Well, it’s not like I’m going back in there to wait for someone to get back to me." Raven snapped.

Clarke eyed her warily, knawing on her chapped lip. There was something about this girl that Clarke couldn’t bring herself to let alone. Though maybe it was just Clarke that didn’t want to be alone. "I have an apartment." she offered after another brief, stilted silence.

"Congrats," Raven muttered sarcastically.

Clarke rolled her eyes now. "I’m saying you can come wait there. It’s not far."

Raven turned to look at her, finally, glaring. "Why the hell would I want to go back to your place? I don’t need your help, Princess. For fuck's sake, just go away."

Swallowing, Clarke’s eyes fell to her feet. “Right, sorry,” she mumbled, face flaming and backing away a step. She spun around and started walking down the street towards the parking lot along the side of the building. With every step she took she felt the guilt weighing down her feet more and more. Clarke couldn’t explain it. It wasn’t her fault that Finn cheated on Raven, it wasn’t like she asked him to. There was no reason for her to feel guilty about a choice someone else made. And yet, she still felt responsible. She was still at least partly the reason that, based on the bags she was carrying, Raven had come here thinking she’d be staying with Finn for the holidays and was now sitting on the edge of the sidewalk in front of his building with no solid next move.

She climbed into her car and started the engine, dropping her head back against the seat with a sigh. She couldn’t just leave Raven in the snow, but what could she do? Besides, she had been cheated on too... Even as she thought the words though they sounded hollow. God all she wanted to do was eat and crawl under three blankets and put this day behind her. But the idea of going back to her empty apartment by herself was an altogether unappealing idea in and of itself. A particularly strong gust of wind gave the car a little shake and Clarke huffed, decision made. She pulled her seatbelt on and quickly made her way out of the parking lot. Between swipes of her windshield wipers she spotted the figure in red huddled on the curb.

Clarke slowed to a stop just in front of her, jabbing the button to bring the window down. Raven’s head shot up, annoyance coloring her expression once she recognized Clarke. She gave a scoff with a raised eyebrow but said nothing, clearly waiting for Clarke to make a move. Clarke held Raven’s stare for a handful of heartbeats before the passenger door unlocked audibly followed by the trunk unlatching. She swallowed her nerves and lifted an eyebrow in return.

"So… pizza or Chinese?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the beginning! I'm thinking we'll go to 4 or 5 chapters. I'm working on the 3rd right now. Thanks again for reading, please feel free to let me know what you think!


	2. Carbs & Clichés

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone knows the best friendships begin with the help of carbs & clichés right?
> 
> Unbetaed, as a warning, thanks so much for reading!

They ended up with Chinese.

And pizza.

And three different kinds of cheese fries.

"This is excessive," Raven muttered, eyeing the bags and boxes of food spread over the counter of Clarke’s kitchen. Clarke chewed her lip from her place next to her, nodding slowly.

They hadn’t spoken much so far. Raven had fought her stubbornly for about five minutes before Clarke pointed out that she was in a warm car with a suddenly very free schedule and could sit there all night while Raven would likely freeze to death within an hour. Throwing her suitcase and backpack in the trunk forcefully, Raven had dropped into the front seat grumbling venomously under her breath.

Raven didn’t give her preference, so Clarke decided to stop at both Panda Express and Sal’s Pizza on the way back to her apartment. Though the dark-haired girl had requested extra fortune cookies and the cheese fries, so Clarke was going to count that as at least a partial success.

"I have wine and water in the fridge," Clarke said after yet another silence rolled over them. She moved forward to pull out plates and silverware, eyes focused on what she was doing instead of the girl scrutinizing her from two feet away. "Glasses are in the cabinet to the left if you want the wine with me." Because, and it should really go without saying but, she’s having wine tonight.

As she walked out of the kitchen and towards the living room with the plates, forks, and pizza box she heard a heavy sigh and a quiet "Okay, fuck it," before the loud sound of a glass bottle sliding out of the fridge pierced the silence.

Clarke fought a victorious smile, laying out her haul on the coffee table before making her way back to the kitchen. Raven met her eyes when she reappeared, a bag tucked under one arm, the open bottle of wine under the other, and a very full glass in each hand. She stares Clarke down for another minute. "Can we at least acknowledge how weird this is?"

A snort escaped Clarke and she grabbed the handles of the two remaining bags on the counter. "Well, yeah, this is… this is super fucking weird." she agreed with an uncomfortable laugh as she shook her head.

Raven exhaled a relieved breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly. "Alright good. I was beginning to think you were nuts."

"I probably am," Clarke said with a shrug and a hesitant smile over her shoulder, leading her back to the coffee table. "Jury’s still out."

They dumped everything on the table and Clarke dropped on to the couch. She watched Raven walk over to her backpack and dig around while she pulled a blanket over her lap. Raven lifted her charger and tilted her head towards the nearby outlet. "Do you mind?" she asked a little awkwardly, lifting her phone. "It died on the way over."

"No, go for it," Clarke said, waving her hand before flipping over the lid to the pizza and inhaling deeply. God, nothing soothed the soul like carbs.

Raven glanced around the living room as she sat down a little stiffly on the other side of the couch. "Nice digs." she offered.

"Thanks," Clarke sighed, a frown twisting her lips. "Hopefully I can afford to stay. My best friend moved out a few days ago and we were splitting the rent. He just finished grad school and he got this awesome job offer like 3 hours away so..."

Raven rose a brow, talking around the pizza she’d shoved in her mouth. "Bitter?" she deadpanned.

Clarke’s frown deepened. "No, not really, it’s just-" she glanced at her quickly and then away. "I wasn’t too worried before, I thought that maybe, you know…"

Understanding passed over the other girl’s face. "You thought Finn would move in," she said, voice even, and it’s not a question.

Clarke took a long sip of her wine, not sure how to respond.

Raven had looked away, sucking a sharp pull of air through her teeth before releasing a humorless laugh. "Meanwhile I came here to move in with _him_. It’s fucking kismet."

Clarke felt her mouth drop open before snapping it shut. She shouldn’t be surprised. They were engaged. That’s what normal couples do. But somehow it still stung. She had just thought… well, she didn’t know what she thought anymore.

Another gulp of wine. She reached out to fill her glass again and avoided looking over at Raven while she poured, words tumbling out. "I honestly didn’t know. I’m really sorry, Raven. If I did, I swear, I… I would never."

Raven still wasn’t looking at her. She cleared her throat. "Do you have Netflix?"

Clarke wet her lips. "Raven-"

The other girl’s eyes cut over to her. "You didn’t know," she said quickly, decisively, her face forcefully impassive. But her next words were quieter, the plea soft. "I don’t want to talk about it, Clarke."

Clarke stared at her for a moment before nodding. "I’ve got Netflix and Hulu, no cable though. Wells made me drop it because all I used it for was reruns of Cops."

A surprised laugh tumbled out of Raven’s mouth suddenly and Clarke felt the tension in her back ease just a little. "Cops? Like _Bad boys, bad boys_? You’re joking."

Clarke glowered at that, stabbing at her carton of orange chicken. "Why is that everyone’s response?"

\---

The next hour and a half passed surprisingly quick and the girls found themselves sprawled out with their legs propped on the coffee table commentating on a Netflix rom-com as it was wrapping up. They finished the bottle of wine a little while ago and Clarke wasn’t drunk by any means, but she was definitely feeling better than she had two hours ago. Warmer, relaxed.

Clarke hadn’t brought up Finn again and she and Raven fell into an easy back and forth about twenty minutes into the movie. They laughed at the same one-liners, complained a little about the lead male character, and talked about themselves here and there.

Clarke had learned that Raven was from this area and until a few years ago had worked as an aircraft mechanic at the airport about an hour outside of town. She only left because she was accepted for a full ride on the other side of the country at Berkley where she had just graduated a five-year program with a degree in material science and engineering. She was set to start her new position as a research engineer in two weeks.

In return Clarke told Raven that she had moved here from Virginia for college and had just finished medical school at Yale in the Spring. She was halfway through her internship year at Yale-New Haven Hospital now. Clarke was on track to take the final part of her boards in a few months and was hoping to specialize in emergency medicine as a resident, still at YNHH pending her test results.

They didn’t talk about boys or feelings. They didn’t talk about family. They ate their lukewarm feast and watched their movie and were quietly impressed with each other’s career goals. If she hadn’t already decided she liked Raven it would have been near impossible to dislike her now. She was academically brilliant, quick-witted, and brimming with sarcasm. Outside of Wells Clarke didn’t have really have any friends in the area, even after living here for years. And now he was gone and she didn’t really have anyone else.

There had been Lexa, on and off during her first and second year here, but she hadn’t really been a friend so much as a beautiful, intense girl that was willing to fool around with Clarke after a meal sometimes. There was Zoey and Sterling, who Clarke was on rotation with at the hospital sometimes, but they mostly commiserated about interning and the conversations had never gone much deeper. Clarke thought she had Finn. After about a month and a half into her intern year she found someone she finally clicked with after meeting in a coffee place- of all the trite meet-cutes, for God’s sake- before an impending already standard 16-hour shift. He had been cute and charismatic and paid for her coffee. So she had thought why not? But that had turned out horrible in the end didn’t it? She found herself hoping though that maybe she had gotten a new, real friend out of the whole debacle somehow. She didn’t get the vibe that Raven was attracted to her in a Lexa-esque way (which was a little disappointing, sure) but she was still hanging out. That was something. Alright, Raven didn’t really seem to have anywhere else to go and Clarke wasn’t usually a silver linings kind of girl, but maybe-

Raven’s voice brought her back. She was using her empty glass to gesture with. "See, the roommate was the best part of this movie. He was honest about his friend’s harpy social climbing girlfriend and as soon as he found out the guy didn’t work for his dick boss anymore he chucks his drink all over him. Friend of the Year Award! Plus, he was totally hilarious. Everyone else: unimpressive by comparison."

Clarke laughed, shaking away her thoughts. "Aw, I liked Harper though."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Of course you did, you’re both obviously saps, Princess."

"Okay, is this ‘princess’ thing going to end any time soon, or?" Clarke asked. Though, admittedly, the nickname lacked the malice it had originally held so Clarke was pretty okay with it.

"It suits you," Raven said, still waving her glass around, though now it was toward the blonde dismissively. "Tone down the fairytale hair and the fairytale eyes and fairytale perfect skin and maybe we can come up with something else."

Clarke opened her mouth only for Raven’s phone to start emitting obscenities from across the room.

_"Fuck the police, f-f-f-fuck the police!"_

Laughter bubbled out of Raven’s mouth as she pushed herself to her feet. "Oh shit, I forgot about them." And before Clarke could ask what she was talking about Raven pushed the phone to her ear. "Hey! Listen, I-" she stopped and Clarke could hear loud muffled noise on the other end. "No, I’m fine now, I just don’t think-" Louder muffled shouting now and Raven’s expression went flat. "I don’t _always_ -" She was cut off again, causing her to sigh loudly. Raven glanced over at Clarke then, clearly mulling an idea over in her head. "Alright, alright, fine. Yeah. We’ll be there soon." She hung up and looked at Clarke.

Clarke’s eyebrows flew into her hairline, waiting silently for an explanation.

The smile that spread over Raven’s face said that she knew she should feel guilty about whatever was coming next... but absolutely did not. "We’re going out."

Clarke blinked. "To... get ice cream?"

Raven stared at her. "How could you possibly eat ice cream right now?" Clarke shrugged but as she tried to respond the other girl shook her head, waving her hands. "Nevermind. No, we’re going out to meet my friends. We’re going to get drunk."

"That’s not a good idea," Clarke said shrewdly. "Also, very cliché."

Raven took a long, slow look pointedly around Clarke’s living room. The leftover food and trash that Clarke hadn’t felt like taking care of yet still covered the coffee table and overflowed onto the floor. The TV showed a trailer that had automatically popped up, suggesting another Netflix original rom-com. Their empty bottle of wine was laying on its side, halfway across the living room where it had rolled after being knocked from the table. Raven returned her flat gaze to Clarke. "I think we’re past the point of being cliché."

Okay, yeah. Clarke would have to give her that. "I can drop you off?" Clarke hedged half-heartedly. She didn’t really want to go out, but she didn’t want Raven to go out either. They were having a good time.

"And what, come back here after and wallow _alone_?" Raven accused, like the idea itself tasted bad in her mouth. The blonde grunted noncommittally. "Go change if you’re changing. We’re leaving in fifteen." And with that she grabbed her suitcase, headed down the hall, and closed the bathroom door with a sharp click.

Clarke gaped after her for a moment before collapsing back on the couch, weighing her options. She could go and be surrounded by people she didn’t know. People who, when they found out how Raven had met Clarke, could very easily hate her. She still wasn’t entirely sure how, when, or why in the last hour Raven herself had stopped hating Clarke. It was a recipe for a very awkward, very tag-along-y experience regardless.

Or... she could stay home, alone.

Which is what started this all in the first place. She had gone to Finn’s even after he canceled because she hadn’t wanted to be alone on the anniversary of her father’s death.

Her shoulders sank a little as the fact returned to her, eyes falling closed as she sucked a sharp breath between her teeth. The sound of Wells answering her phone after the third call and of a glass shattering on linoleum tiles assaulted her brain. Memories swirled of the airport and the car and the praying that her father, with his stereotypical dad jokes and penchant for playing mediator, would be okay when she saw him. She just needed to see him. Except she didn’t get to see him, did she? The bitter thought shook her free.

She swallowed hard around the knot forming in her throat. Yeah, so, it wasn’t like she really had much of a choice then. Besides, maybe it would be fun? And she’d have Raven at least. Something about the other girl just seemed to lighten her mood, which was ridiculous given how they had met and that she had only known her for all of a few hours. But Raven just had one of those personalities that swept Clarke up in a whirlwind of just the right mix of snark and kindness.

Clarke rolled her body off the couch then, cleaned up most of the mess, and then made her way to her bedroom. She yanked her closet open, studying the contents. Eventually she settled on a scoop neck shirt under an open button-up with a plain pair of jeans. She inspected herself in the mirror, shifting her shirt over her chest to expose her cleavage a little experimentally. It made her feel indecently smug when she caught someone looking at them. She could use some indecently smug tonight. She could use anything outside of this apartment tonight, really. So maybe she was warming up to the idea as going out. A little.

"You pull that much lower and you might as well just ditch the undershirt altogether." Clarke glanced over to see Raven in the doorway eyeing her. Her eyebrow was raised and a slightly amused smile pulled at her mouth. Clarke felt heat creep up her face, yanking the shirt back up. Raven rolled her eyes. "Relax, I’m not judging. Besides, they say the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else, right? Maybe we’ll both get laid tonight."

"That an offer?" Clarke joked, giving her an ostentatious wink.

Raven snorted before heading down the hall as she called over her shoulder, "If I was into girls you’d have been naked an hour ago, Princess. Now, let’s go."

A choked laugh escaped Clarke and she glanced at herself one more time. Well, that was a shame. It would have been a great way to get back at Finn at the very least. Plus, Raven was undeniably attractive. And unknowingly already somehow the best friend Clarke had made since Wells when they were like five. She tried to ignore how pathetic that sounded even in her own head.

So Clarke straightened her spine and followed Raven down the hall, out the front door, and into the night. She had no idea where they were going but found herself taking solace in the fact that Raven wasn’t leaving Clarke behind.

\---

The driver dropped them off a block down the street from the bar Raven’s friends were at. The cold air chapped Clarke’s face, leaving it stinging after only a minute outside the warmth of the car.

"Are you sure it’ll be okay for me to be crashing? I don’t want to, like, intrude or anything. How many people are we meeting here exactly?" Clarke asked, glancing up from her phone nervously. She was quickly giving the driver five-stars as they walked down the street... before she inevitably forgot, like always.

Raven huffed out an annoyed breath. "For the last time, it’s _fine_ , Clarke. We’re celebrating my friend’s graduation from the police academy today. I’m not sure who’s all gonna make it out though."

Clarke slid her phone back in her pocket and tugged at her sleeves. She followed Raven through the doors into the bar. Clarke took a brief moment to take in her surroundings. The bar was long, taking up the whole left side of the room and lined with mostly occupied barstools. There were hightops scattered across the center of the room and lines of booths situated around stout tables along the wall to the right. The walls were covered in a wide variety of what looked like movie and concert posters and the music was loud enough to be heard but not so loud you’d have to shout to hear the person next to you.

A girl with long dark hair standing next to a few heavily packed booths at the front looked over as they entered and gave a gleeful cry of "Reyes!" She ran over to wrap Raven in a one-armed hug. "Thank you for not bitching out!"

Raven hugged her back for a moment before elbowing her hard in the side, though unable to hold in her grin. "You’re such an asshole. Why am I friends with you?"

"Because I’m a ray of sunshine that brightens your life in new and unexpected ways each and every day." the girl offered, ignoring Raven’s loud ‘HA!’ while she looked around behind her friend. "Where’s Finn?"

Clarke felt an uncomfortable heat itch at her skin. This was a terrible idea. Raven’s smile fell instantly, "Not coming." Raven pulled Clarke forward. "This is Clarke, though. She’s gonna get drunk with us tonight. Clarke, this is Octavia."

Octavia was scrutinizing her friend intently. "We’re going to talk about _that_ later," she promised with a hard look. Then she turned to Clarke, offering her a smile. "Nice to meet you. First drink’s on Miller tonight, because he sucks at life, so just go over to the bar and tell them you’re with us and they’ll add it to his tab. Actually," Her grin reminded Clarke of the little angel-faced evil children in horror movies. "You know, I’ll just come with you. Reyes will have her usual old man drink, I assume?" Raven’s protests fall on deaf ears as Octavia led them towards the bar. She looked over her shoulder at Clarke, eye dancing with mischief, and Clarke was struck dumb momentarily by how pretty she was as Raven’s words from earlier bounce around her head: _The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else._  "What’s your poison, newbie?"

Clarke has to take a moment to gather thoughts, annoyed with herself. God, had it been already been long enough to eliminate any type of game she used to have? "Uh, rum generally."

Raven groan is near deafening but Octavia’s face lit up and she cheers, "A pirate!" while lifting her beer in the air like a sword. When no further explanation was given Clarke cocked an eyebrow at Raven in question.

"Octavia thinks anyone with a preference for rum was a pirate in a past life or something. It’s mostly because she had a weird thing for _years_ over Jack Sparrow-"

Octavia cut her off, something that Clarke was gathering was an action the smaller girl did often. "Okay, but who _wouldn’t_ have a thing for Johnny Depp as a pirate? It’s Johnny Depp. _As a pirate."_

Raven ignored her. "She’s just going to call you a pirate all night, and probably for the rest of your life. Actually," Raven paused, now smirking. "Pirate Princess has a nice ring to it."

"Clarke the Pirate Princess!" Octavia said happily before turning away. Clarke shot an annoyed look at Raven, who looked very pleased with herself. She watched as Octavia leaned over the bar, waving at a tall heavily tattooed bartender who gave her a small smile and a nod to show he’d seen her.

The man came over a moment later and Octavia smiled flirtatiously. "Hey, Lincoln, fancy meeting you here. Come here often? How’s your night going?"

Another small smile curled his lips. "Fine enough," he said mildly, his voice much softer than Clarke expected given the look of him. "Do you need another?" he asked, eyeing her half-full beer bottle skeptically.

She drained her beer and placed the empty bottle on the counter with a winning smile. "Yes please, and I’ll take a water too. And three shots of tequila on my tab, and then a Tom Collins and a-" she glanced back at Clarke expectantly.

"A Captain and coke," Clarke offered hurriedly.

"And a Captain and coke on Miller’s tab for Old Man Reyes and my new pirate friend." Octavia finishes, looking up at him under her eyelashes. Lincoln nodded, fighting off a grin and went to get their drinks.

Octavia sagged against the bar, still staring as he walked away. "I want that man so bad it’s almost painful at this point. Like physically painful."

"First of all, I’m not taking that shot, just as a disclaimer. And secondly, Bellamy would kill him." Raven advised. Though she eyed the bartender for a moment before adding, "At least he’d try."

Octavia’s voice was irritated when she responded, "Yes you are taking that shot. And _Bellamy_ needs to realize that I’m 23 years old and free to fuck whomever-"

"For the sake of my already dwindling sanity, I’d really rather you didn’t finish that sentence."

Clarke turned and saw a man with a mild glare adorning his face as he looked at Octavia, which she returned tenfold as she turned around. "Well, _I’d_ rather you go fuck yourself-"

"Octavia, you said tequila, right?"

Lincoln had returned with Clarke and Raven’s drinks as well as the shot glasses and the bottle of tequila he obviously knew she had requested. His dark eyes flitted back and forth between Octavia and the other man before he poured the shots. He then slid a small bowl of cherries across the bar to Octavia without a word.

The tension dissipated immediately from her, her entire face brightening as she popped one in her mouth. "Yes, thank you, Lincoln." He gave a brief nod, another kind little smile, and then headed back down to the other side of the bar.

Clarke glanced back at the guy behind them, whose eyes were fixed on Lincoln’s retreating form with a scowl and crossed arms. He had nice arms. And a nice face.

She forced herself to turn her back on him to take the shot glass Octavia held out to her. Clarke forced the grimace off her face as she eyes the liquid. She hated tequila. Or tequila hated her at least. But it was apparent that turning down the offering would not be in her best interest if the squabble that was taking place between Raven and Octavia was any indicator.

" _Fine!"_  Raven relented finally. "But you’re responsible for getting me and Clarke out of here with an Uber that won’t murder and/or sexually assault us because you know what tequila does to me."

"Deal! Now- what are you doing, get over here!" Octavia looked at Clarke impatiently, gesturing to the small gap between her and Raven. She quickly wedged herself in, shot hand held out over the bartop.

"Alright, bottoms up, ladies," Octavia held her glass towards them to clink together. The three girls then tapped them on the bar before tossing the burning liquid back. Clarke made a face as she put her glass down, mouth puckered.

"Again!" Octavia demanded, eyes already on Lincoln’s back again.

Raven looked at Clarke and laughed. She nodded to Clarke’s rum and coke on the bar. "Drink up Princess, sounds like we’ve got another round coming."

God, Clarke really hated tequila.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's chapter two! Longer, hopefully not too long. Thanks for reading, please feel free to let me know what you think!


	3. The Misadventures of the Pirate Princess and Old Man Reyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Raven get drunk and fall into a handful of drunk girl tropes. I'm not sorry. Also, I really like writing drunk Clarke. So that might be a thing I explore in another fic or two later.
> 
> I'm really terrible at these A/N things. Anyway, thanks for reading!

God, Clarke  _ loved  _ tequila.

Why didn’t she drink this all the time? She felt so good. Light and laughy and warm from her spot sandwiched in a booth with Raven on one side and Miller (of the briefly mentioned First Drink’s on Miller) on her other side.

Raven was in the middle of a loud, passionate argument with a guy that had been introduced as somebody’s dick roommate Murphy. Clarke couldn’t remember what started the fight but now it was definitely about Harry Potter wandlore. Clarke loved Harry Potter, but her attention was elsewhere.

Miller, unlike Raven, was quiet as she stared at him. He was just sipping his beer and listening to the conversations overlapping at their table. His thigh was warm against hers and he had one of those neat but still somehow scruffy looking beards. She pulled her heavy hand up from her lap and ran a finger along his jaw. It clenched a little and she giggled. He leveled her with an unamused look and she smiled, taping his nose once. "You look grumpy but you have very kind eyes," she whispered.

"I tell him that all the time, don’t I Miller? You’ve got just the kindest eyes." The voice from the other side of the table floated over to Clarke and her eyes fluttered closed at the sound. How had he heard her? She was such a good whisperer. It was a nice sound though. His voice. A little deep, a little raspy, and laced with laughter. She heard Miller grumble an annoyed, "Oh fuck off," but kept her eyes closed. There were lights dancing across the inside of her eyelids and she heard the same voice say something else. It was like Gerard Butler. If only he had the accent. Hmm. She loved Gerard Butler. So handsome.

She opened her eyes to look at the voice’s owner. It was the guy who made Octavia mad. Oh, she missed Octavia! She looked around. Where did she go? Clarke could have sworn she was just here. Hopefully she would come back soon. Octavia was so funny and pretty.

She brought her eyes back to the guy sitting across from her. Clarke thought hard for a moment before remembering. Raven had said that was Octavia’s older brother, Bellamy. Bellamy was looking at Miller smugly, taking a sip of his water. His hair looked fluffy and he had freckles and Clarke watched as his tongue swiped across his lips and her cheeks were warm. Bellamy was handsome, like Gerard. And like Miller too. Why did Raven have so many attractive friends? It didn’t seem very fair.

Clarke turned, tapping Raven on the shoulder before resting her chin on it. Her slouchy sweater was soft under Clarke’s face. "Raven, why are all your friend’s so nice to look at?"

Raven was laughing then. "I dunno. I never thought about it. I guess they kinda are."

"You’re a hoarder," Clarke decided, poking her arm. "You’re a hoarder of pretty people. They should put you on that show. The one with all the hoarders. What’s that called?"

"Hoarders?" Murphy offered with a snort.

"Yeah, it’s about them, but what’s it  _ called?" _  Clarke sighed, rubbing her face on Raven’s shoulder. "Where did you get this sweater? It’s so nice, I love it."

"I’m not sure, Finn gave it to me, I’ll ask him when-" Raven stopped abruptly and Clarke sat up straighter. They weren’t supposed to talk about Finn.

"Yeah, I meant to ask, where’s Finn at tonight? Too cool to hang out with us?" The girl next to Bellamy said jokingly. Clarke thinks she’s friend’s with Octavia but can’t remember her name.

Raven doesn’t say anything and after a moment the table starts to get awkwardly quiet. After what feels like a long time, Raven says "I have to pee."

There’s another beat of silence before Miller slides out of the booth and stands. Clarke numbly followed suit to let Raven out. She watches her go for a minute before following.

"I’m sorry," she mumbled to a chair she bumped into as she hurried past it and into the bathroom. "Raven?"

"Go away, Clarke," came from one of the closed stalls

Clarke walked up to it, pressing her hand on the cool surface. She felt tears pooling in her eyes. "Raven, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. What can I do?"

"Um, can you let me out, please?" another voice, annoyed and closer, said. Clarke blinked, stepping back and the stall swung open to reveal a girl that was not Raven. She shouldered past Clarke, giving her a weird look, before going to wash her hands. That was good. People should always wash their hands. But where-?

The next stall creaked open and Raven took a wobbly step out, tears sliding down her cheeks. "What did I do wrong?" she whispered. She looked so sad and Clarke’s chest hurt. "I- I know I should have come home more, but school was so hard and so far. And he loves me- he’s  _ supposed _ to love me, right? So why does he keep doing this? Why did he cheat on me with you?"

The girl from Clarke’s stall made a noise, hurriedly grabbing a clump of paper towels and bolted out the door. Clarke watched her and looked back to Raven, face wet too now as she whispered, "I don’t know. I’m sorry." Raven rubbed her eyes, smearing her mascara. Clarke thought it almost didn’t seem right that she could still look so pretty like that.

"I’m never enough for him," Raven mumbled, leaning against the stall.

It’s quiet for a long time before she speaks again. "I always got picked first, you know? Soccer captain. Senior class president. Valedictorian. Always number one. Always first place." She looked at Clarke between water soaked lashes. "So how the hell did I end up here?"

Raven moved around Clarke, wetting a paper towel and scraping it across her eyes sloppily. Clarke watched her reflection in the mirror, before coming up next to her and taking the towel. She slowly and gently wiped the makeup off Raven’s eyes. Neither one said anything until Clarke got every black smudge she could see. Then Clarke pulled her into a hug and whispered, "I’d pick you first." Raven let out a sound that was half laugh and half sob. Her shoulders shook and Clarke squeezed tighter, letting Raven cry. 

At some point they ended up sitting on the floor side by side, arms linked. Clarke wasn’t sure how long they sat there as her mind began to wander. Her head didn’t feel like it was swimming quite so much now that she was seated again. She thought about Finn. It stung that he had (sort of?) cheated on her, but she knew she’d be okay. But Raven? Raven planned her life with Finn. Probably imagined what their kids would be named. Clarke wasn’t sure that if she were in Raven’s shoes she’d be sitting on the floor of a bar bathroom with the girl who he cheated with.

"Why’d you invite me here?" Clarke asked quietly, head resting on Raven’s shoulder again.

She didn’t answer right away and Clarke thought she might not at all, but then, "You... were nice to me." Clarke couldn’t see Raven’s face but she could imagine the reluctant look on it. "I would have been sitting in the snow for two hours waiting for Octavia if you hadn’t made me come with you. I like you. And… I don’t know. I didn’t want you to be alone."

"I didn’t want to be alone." Clarke agreed, chest tightening. She felt Raven nod. Clarke swallowed hard, opened her mouth, closed it, and then tried again. "My dad died today." She felt Raven flinch hard and she pressed on. "Not today, today. One year ago today. That’s why I went to Finn’s. I didn’t want to be alone. Wells couldn’t put off his job any longer to stay with me and I- I just-" Clarke’s throat was too dry and closed up suddenly. She stopped, eyes squeezed shut tightly.

"You didn’t want to be alone." Raven finished quietly.

"I didn’t want to be alone." Clarke echoed.

Raven hesitated for a moment, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Clarke rolled the idea over in her mind, eyeing the tile wall across from them. Talking about it felt like the weirdest, most foreign concept. But it wasn’t altogether unappealing. "I’ve never told anyone about it before. Wells was there when it happened. He answered the phone. He went back home with me and he-" She took a deep breath. "Wells was there when it happened. So I never had to tell anyone."

"You don’t have to if you don’t want to." Raven offered, shifting so she could turn to face Clarke. "If you don’t want to I’m not gonna push."

Clarke felt herself shaking her head slowly. "No, I think I want to." She brought her eyes to meet Raven’s, smiling just a little. "I like you too."

Raven smiled a little too but didn’t speak. Clarke ran her fingers along the outside seam of her jeans, thinking. She felt bitterness souring her mouth as she went over the night’s events clinically. "I ignored the call. I was studying and my phone was in the kitchen. After the third time, Wells answered it. It was my mom. She said that Dad was in an accident. Of course, I found out later that his accident was actually two days before that. But she didn’t want me to be distracted for my fucking midterms. That was more important, obviously." Clarke scoffed to herself. "We left right away but they declared him brain dead while we were in the air. My mom decided to discontinue care. Before I got there. She said there wasn’t anything to be done. That I didn’t need to see him like that. Because she gets to make those decisions for me, right? So I don’t get there in time. He was out of the room already by the time we found it. Just gone." Clarke thought for a few seconds before continuing. "I didn’t get to see him until the funeral two days later. I haven’t spoken to my mother since. I thought being mad at her would help, you know? And I’m- I’m  _ so mad _ at her. But it’s been a year and I don’t feel any better. I still didn’t get to say goodbye. And my dad’s still dead."

They’re quiet again for a moment. Raven eventually reached up and wiped her thumbs under Clarke’s eyes, face uncharacteristically soft. Clarke hadn’t even realized she was crying again. "I’m sorry, Clarke." Raven murmured.

Not knowing what else to say Clarke gave an awkward shrug, a bit uncomfortable suddenly. "Yeah. And then Finn turned out to be a dick, so it’s par for the course I guess." She gave a watery laugh. Raven pulled on her wrist, bringing both girls to their feet. The world spun a little and Clarke stumbled before Raven led her back out to the bar. "Come on," she said. "I think we need another drink."

And yeah, another drink sounded like a really really great idea right about now.

They didn’t go back to the booths. It was later now, the bar was less crowded and they found Octavia sitting on a stool ogling Lincoln and joined her. They ordered more tequila shots, much to Octavia’s delight. Raven didn’t say anything to Clarke about her dad and Clarke couldn’t help feeling relieved. It was- well, not  _ nice _ , but good somehow telling someone. Talking about it. She felt lighter, the ever-present tightness clinging to her spine finally loosening. But Clarke didn’t really know what else to say about it and Raven seemed to know that without even asking. There was a silent understanding between them that the conversation was over until Clarke said otherwise. Clarke marveled again at how Raven had somehow turned out to be the best silver lining on the worst day.

Clarke thanked Lincoln a little while later when he placed another round of hers and Raven’s drinks in front of them before sliding a bowl of peanuts and three glasses of water in front of them as well. His eyes met Octavia’s for a heartbeat before he nudged her glass even closer to her pointedly before heading into the back.

"He’s cutting me off.” Octavia was swaying in her seat. "God damn I wanna sit on his face," she said, louder then what was strictly necessary and Clarke choked on her drink with her unexpected laugh. "Is that really too much to ask for?"

Clarke snorted but didn’t comment. She tilted her head back, taking a large gulp of her drink to stop the coughing. The girls are all quiet for a minute before-

"I miss sex," Raven bemoaned suddenly, downing half of her remaining drink. "Like,  _ so much _ ,"

"Go home and bang Finn then," Octavia said dismissively.

Clarke’s head was beginning to swim but she still found herself leaning forward to look at Raven apprehensively. The dark-haired girl was running her finger around the rim of her glass absently. "Can’t. I broke up with him. Gave him his ring back and everything."

Octavia slipped off her stool. "What?" she clambered back up, eyes wide. "What happened? Did he-?" It was quiet but Clarke felt the muscles in her back stiffen at the clear implication.

Raven swallowed another mouthful, draining the rest of her glass and flagging the other bartender for another. She gestured for Clarke too, then said, "Yeah. He did. It’s how I met Clarke actually."

The small girl whirled around, gaping at Clarke now. "No. Way."

Clarke fought a wince with her fingers tight on the counter. Her stool felt like it was tilting a little. "Yeah."

"And what, you guys are like friends now?" Octavia asked, head swiveling comically between them.

"I think we’re friends." Clarke looked at Raven.

Raven grinned. "Yeah. We’re friends, Princess."

Clarke felt a surge of warmth spread in her chest stronger than any of the drinks she’d had and tried to blink away the sudden wetness in her eyes. They had probably cried enough tonight.

Octavia, oblivious, was still gaping at them. Her mouth snapped shut finally before she shook her head. "Finn must have a monster dick."

"Octavia!" Clarke shouted, but the scandalized tone she was going for was dampened by the laughter that bubbled up and out of her mouth.

The girl continued, unperturbed. "Seriously. Is it huge? If you guys are gonna be Sister Wives it’s gotta be  _ huge _ -huge."

"Well, we’re not going to be Sister Wives. But… it  _ is _ nice." Raven admitted, glancing at Clarke.

Clarke nodded in agreement, stuffing a handful of peanuts in her mouth. "Yeah. It kinda made up for all the little things he did that annoyed the shit out of me."

Raven snorted, turning on her stool a little wobbly to eye Clarke curiously. "Like what?"

"Like how he never put the cart back in the little huts at the grocery store." Clarke supplied immediately, nose wrinkling. "He’d just leave it in the parking spot next to the car. Who does that? You don’t even have to walk it all the way back to the store! They made it that easy! Or, ugh," Clarke made a gagging sound into her glass. "His toenails. I swear he hasn’t cut them in his entire life."

Raven was laughing, clutching her chest. "Your face! Wait, wait, and at the movies, he would always tap me when something was happening and ask me ‘Did you see that?’ like wasn’t watching the same movie he was."

"He texts like a middle schooler," Clarke added, giggling too. "Like the letter U instead of y-o-u and no capitalizations or periods. Like ever."

"He’s late, like _always."_  Raven groaned. "And a pen clicker. And he left empty boxes in his cabinets instead of just throwing them away like a normal person. And- and he doesn’t like mac and cheese! Who the hell doesn’t like _mac and cheese_?"

"Stupid people! I say good riddance!" Clarke cheered, lifting her glass.

"Hear, hear!" Raven shouted, clinking their glasses together as they fell into a fit of laughter.

"This is fucking weird," Octavia mumbled, eyes on them.

Clarke made a wheezing gasp sound, trying to catch her breath and feeling the warmth of the alcohol in her belly. "We acknowledged it already."

Octavia stared at them for another moment before she shrugged. "Alright, I’m going to go convince Lincoln he needs to give me a ride home because I’m drunk and his shift is over and Bell’s annoying and also because we’re celebrating me tonight. I deserve it."

Clarke watched her breeze around the counter (it says Employees Only!) and disappear into the back room. The door swings back and forth before falling still. A full minute goes by before she turns to Raven again, struck by a thought. "Octavia’s the police officer? But she’s so small."

"I wouldn’t let her hear you say that," a voice said from behind her came.

It was Non-Accented Gerard Butler again, out of the woodwork. She closed her eyes at the sound. His voice was like butter melting on toast. Clarke found herself wishing he would melt on her like butter on toast. That sounded weird. Did they sell toast here?

"Earth to Pirate Princess? Do you read me?"

Clarke opened her eyes and saw Raven waving a hand in front of her face. She blinked. "Do they have toast?"

"I don’t know. Let me ask!" Raven says helpfully, reaching her hands out to wave down the bartender.

Murphy reached out from next to Raven and pushed her hands down. "They do not have toast here."

Clarke frowned. "But I want toast."

"Well, do you have bread at home?" Octavia’s brother asked. Shit, she forgot his name. She really needed to remember it. It seemed impolite to imagine him melting on her and not know his name. And Clarke wasn’t impolite. She had excellent manners. She should just ask what his name is, right?

"Yes," she said instead. "I have bread. It’s honey wheat."

Murphy snorted but Bellamy-  _ Ha! She remembered! _ -shot him a look. "Then you can make yourself toast at home. Do you know how the two of you are getting there?"

"Octavia was supposed to find us a ride because of the tequila." Raven supplied, draining the rest of her glass and Clarke quickly did the same. "But I think she left."

"She didn’t leave yet," Bellamy said. "I’m her DD."

"D&D. That’s Dungeons and Dragons," Clarke mumbled, struggling for a minute as she stretched out against the bar to reach the bowl of peanuts she left behind. She held it under her chin so she didn’t make a mess. Because, you know, manners.

"Nope, pretty sure she left," Raven said, moving closer to Clarke to take some of her peanuts.

Clarke nodded, holding the bowl under Raven’s chin. "She was having Lincoln take her home. She said his shift’s over."

" _What?"_  Bellamy said, eyes flying along the bar to see that Lincoln was in fact no longer there. Clarke watched as a red flush climbed up his neck, over his jaw, and up his cheeks to mingle with his freckles. Wow. How many freckles could one person have on their face? She watched him yank his phone out of his pocket, staring at the screen with a darkening expression. He let out a humorless laugh before reading a message aloud. "Got a ride from Lincoln. Unbunch your tighty whities. He’s nice to me. Love you. P.S. Please take Raven and Clarke home so they don’t die. 'K thanks bye."

There’s a beat of silence between the four of them. The men eyed Clarke and Raven, Bellamy’s face wary, while they munched on their peanuts. Raven signaled for another round.

Murphy snickered, looking at Bellamy. "Yeah, have fun with that." Clarke felt vaguely offended at his tone. They were great. Murphy and Not-Gerard/Bellamy would be lucky to hang out with them.

"Oh no," Bellamy said, not bothering to meet Murphy’s gaze. The way his lips formed around words was fascinating. She really wanted to kiss him. That was probably a bad idea. "Miller already left so I’m your ride now too."

Murphy groaned. "Son of a bitch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Please feel free to let me know what you think!


	4. The Blake and Murphy Babysitting Service

"Please, please, please, please, please-"

"Oh my god, make her stop! Let’s just go!"

"No, it’s already after 2 in the morning! I want to go home-"

"-please, please, please, please-"

"Raven I swear to _God_ if you don’t shut up-"

"Hey! Don’t talk to her like that. That’s my friend."

"What are you- Did you just try to kick me?"

"Clarke, turn around- No! Put your foot down! Damn it, I’m trying to fucking drive!"

"-please, please, please, please, please-"

"FINE!” Bellamy bellowed. “We’ll stop for chicken nuggets just- just everyone _stop!"_

All movement in the car stopped as commanded. Clarke froze, turned sideways in her seat, foot stretched in the back towards Murphy’s shoulder. Murphy was shrunk back into the corner to avoid Clarke, back pressed against the window. Raven’s head popped up from where she had lolled it against the headrest as she whined.

"Thanks, Bellamy." Raven chirped from the back seat.

Clarke watched Bellamy’s profile in the lights that passed by the car while he grumbled under his breath. She struggled a little to right herself in her seat, eventually giving up and leaving her leg draped over the center console and wedging the heel of her foot between Bellamy’s thighs under the steering wheel.

"Will you-" he glared at her, pushing at her foot in annoyance but it was dead weight. He rubbed a hand across the side of his face, releasing an angry breath from between clenched teeth. "I’m going to kill Octavia."

"I mean, to be fair, you didn’t have to let them stay until last call." Murphy pointed out, now settled back and lounging comfortably next to Raven. Clarke thought about trying to kick him again.

"They wouldn’t leave! How is that my fault?" Bellamy asked incredulously.

Clarke grinned and reached over to poked his arm a few times. It was hard. "You could have picked us up. Hauled us out. Like a fireman. Look how strong you are." 

Murphy chuckled in the back and Bellamy sent her another look. "Do you always have no boundaries or is this just a fun thing for me tonight because you’re an annoying drunk?"

Clarke frowned, hurt. "I’m not annoying. Raven," she leaned forward to look in the backseat. "Am I annoying?"

"Of course not. You’re adorable and these peons are gifted with your presence, Princess." Raven said as she squirmed in her seat to try and get something out of the tight pocket of her pants.

"So where’d the Princess thing come from?" Murphy asked, eyes amused as he watched Raven struggle.

Raven snorted. "Have you see her? She looks like she belongs in a Disney movie."

"I resemble that." Clarke huffed.

"You _resent_ that," Bellamy corrected.

She glowered at him. "That’s what I said." Why did she want to make out with this guy anyway?

Bellamy rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his already mussed hair, the muscle and protruding veins in his arm catching the streetlight as they drove. Clarke nodded to herself. Now she remembered. He was really hot.

"I mean it’s both right?" Raven said thoughtfully. "She resents it _because_ she resembles it. That’s a thing right?"

"No," Bellamy deadpanned.

Raven emitted a long-suffering sigh before deciding it wasn't worth arguing. "God, I can’t remember the last time I was this drunk. This was such a good idea."

Murphy made a tutting sound. "Something tells me you aren’t going to think that tomorrow morning."

Raven scoffed, "Killjoy." Clarke made a noise of agreement, snuggling the side of her face closer to the seat. She was getting sleepy.

"Do you remember the last time you were this drunk?" Raven asked no one in particular. Clarke peeked over again to watch them.

"I doubt I’ve been as drunk as you are now since before I was able to legally drink." Murphy snorted, catching her hand as she tried to physically wave off the words. He didn’t let go and she didn’t pull it back. "And Grandpa Blake hasn’t been drunk since ‘Nam, so."

"First of all, I’m not that old. And second, I get drunk." Bellamy protested mildly. "Sometimes."

"Ranting about the historical inaccuracies in popular movies and books after three beers does not count as getting drunk." Murphy retorted and Raven laughed loudly. Clarke thought Murphy looked rather pleased with himself as he watched her dark-haired friend. She smiled and turned her attention back to Bellamy. He was scowling and Clarke couldn’t help the giggle that squirmed up her throat.

His eyes cut over to her briefly. "Something funny?"

She grinned. "You’re just so grumpy. It’s weirdly cute."

Bellamy shook his head but Clarke thought she saw his lip twitch. He ignored her comment otherwise. "So when was the last time you were this drunk, Princess?"

Raven’s annoyed, "Hey come up with your own clever nickname!" was overshadowed by the little warm thrill Clarke got at hearing the word in his deep voice. Yeah, she was definitely going to make out with him. He smirked at Raven’s complaint, shrugging. "Nah, I like Princess. It’s fitting." He glanced over at Clarke again and, Jesus, she was going to more than make out with him. However, before she could voice any of the highly inappropriate thoughts assaulting her brain he prompted her to answer his question.

Clarke rested her head back, looking up at the dark sky through the windshield and wetting her lips. It was easier to talk if she wasn’t looking at him. Her head felt heavy and her tongue felt heavier. "I... don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever been this drunk before."

"Not a partier?" Bellamy questioned lightly.

She made a noncommittal noise in her throat, shaking her hands in front of her. "I mean, I’ve been drunk before, obviously. I’m an adult. Adults get drunk. So, I’ve been drunk. Wine drunk mostly. That counts. But I don’t ever go out like this, you know? Like with shots and-and other people and- you know? I work 16-hour shifts 5 days a week. Or more if I can trick the stupid time machine. Or I’ll stay and chart off the clock too. And before that... I guess I went to some parties? But I studied mostly, you know? Because med school and being a doctor is a lot harder than Grey’s Anatomy made it seem." 

"Grey’s Anatomy, huh?" Bellamy chuckled. "That’s what inspired you to go to med school?"

She laughed with him, appreciating the sound. She held her arm up, reaching to trace patterns against the ceiling. Clarke wished she could always feel like this. "I don’t know. A little? My mom’s a doctor too, so yeah. And I like the idea of helping people. _Saving lives._  And yeah, maybe I was into the idea of getting to fuck my hot, hot coworkers all the time all over the place too." Bellamy made a choked laughing sound from the driver’s seat. Clarke felt proud of herself for making him laugh again and a surge of boldness rushed through her. She eyed Bellamy with her best attempt at a suggestive look. "That’s been a disappointment so far, though. The opportunities to fuck in the hospital, I mean. In case you were, you know, wondering." That didn’t feel smooth. That definitely should have been smoother.

Bellamy looked over at her, that smirk curling his mouth again. He shook his head as he returned his stare resolutely to the road. "You’re drunk."

She mumbled mockingly, " _You’re_ _drunk_."

He snorted. "Very mature,"

Clarke opened her mouth to make a very convincing and _mature_ argument (obviously,) but was interrupted by Raven. "Don’t you dare drive past those golden arches, Bellamy Blake! I’m getting my damn nuggets!" she shouted, leaning forward and pointing to the McDonalds up ahead.

"Yeah, Bellamy, don’t forget about the nuggets." Murphy snickered.

Bellamy glared at Murphy in the rearview as he flipped his turn signal on exaggeratedly. "I’m going to choke you, I swear."

"Oooh yes, Daddy, I like it rough," Murphy said in a higher voice, reaching up to tousle Bellamy’s curls. Unfair. Why did he get to touch Bellamy’s hair?

Raven’s laughter was loud and filled the car again. Clarke glanced back and saw Murphy was watching Raven with a grin. Clarke rolled the idea around in her head a little more before deciding John Murphy was sort of an asshole, but he clearly liked Raven. Their bickering banter was kind of cute too. And by 'kind of cute' she meant 'completely cute and also full of obscene sexual tension. 

Bellamy pulled into the drive-thru and stopped before reaching the mic. "What does everyone want?"

"Chicken nuggets, Blake, _chicken nuggets_ ," Raven said impatiently.

"Yes, I know that. But I need more information, _Reyes_ , as in: How many chicken nuggets? Would you like a combo with fries and a beverage? Do you have preferences on the selected dipping sauces this fine establishment offers?" he bit back, tone condescending.

"Ten piece combo, medium, with a Sprite. And barbeque sauce. _Lots_ of barbeque sauce. Murphy wants a McDouble with no pickles or onions and a McChicken. Actually, make mine a large because he’s just going to drink half my soda and eat my fries anyway. Clarke, what do you want?"

"It’s cute that you remember my order," Murphy said with a cocky smirk.

Raven ignored him. "Clarke?" she prompted again.

Clarke stared at the bright menu, overwhelmed and exhausted suddenly. "I don’t know. I want ice cream but I don’t think I can get it this late. Or early? I don’t know what time it is."

"Clarke," Raven whined. "Pick something I need my nuggets."

"Ugh, I don’t know. If there’s no ice cream I’m fine. I don’t want anything else." Clarke sighed, staring at the little McFlurry pictured on the screen longingly.

Bellamy moved the car forward, prompting the sound of static before someone asked to take their order. "Hi, yeah, thank you. Can I get a ten-piece nugget combo with a large Sprite and a bunch of barbeque sauce? And a McChicken and a McDouble?"

"No pickles and no onions!" Raven hissed.

He shot her an aggravated look. "No pickles or onions on the McDouble, please."

"Is that everything?"

Bellamy stared at the menu for a second. "Can I also get another large fry and, uh, a McFlurry?"

"Ice cream machine is down for the night, sir."

Clarke deflated. Bellamy glanced at her apologetically. "Okay, that’s it then."

"Pull ahead to the first window for your total."

"Thanks," Bellamy said, doing as instructed. He shifted in his seat to get his wallet out of his pocket. Murphy pushed Raven’s hand out of the way as she went to hand up her money without a word, holding his cash out to Bellamy from the backseat instead. Bellamy shook his head. "It’s fine, I got it." 

Murphy shrugged, putting his money back in his pocket. "Thanks,"

"Yeah, thanks, Dad." Raven chimed with a big smile.

"Yeah, yeah," Bellamy said, rolling his eyes. "Here," he hands the bag back to them after pulling out the fries he ordered. He held them out to Clarke. She blinked at him briefly before reaching out to hold the container. She watched as he pulled back out onto the street before trying to hand it back to him.

"What are you doing? I can’t hold it. I’m driving," he said, pushing her hands back towards her.

She stared, brain moving sluggishly as she tried to figure out what she was supposed to do. "Do you want me to like... feed them to you or something?" The image of her fingers brushing against his lips sent a thrill through her.

Bellamy huffed a little laugh. "No. I don’t want you to feed me. I want you to feed yourself. You listed at least 4 different foods you wanted before we left the bar. You’re hungry. Eat." 

"Aww. That was cute. Good job, Blake." Raven teased.

Clarke felt her face warm and tried to ignore Raven. They did smell really good. "Thanks," She shoved a couple in her mouth. "There’s too many though. Share with me." She shook them at him and Bellamy grabbed a few obediently without a word.

"How domestic," Murphy commented without any heat.

"Don’t start," Bellamy warned at the same time Raven said "Eat a dick, Murphy,"

Before long they finally reached the front of Clarke’s apartment building. Bellamy put the car in park and shifted to look at Raven in the backseat. "You guys gonna be okay to get inside?"

"You guys should come in," Raven said suddenly, eyes shifting to Murphy quickly before moving back to Bellamy.

Bellamy looked uncomfortable immediately. "I don’t think that’s a good idea. Besides, we wouldn’t want to impose on Clarke, right Murphy?"

"I mean..." Murphy was eyeing Raven curiously.

"Bad idea," Bellamy muttered to him.

"Clarke wouldn’t mind, right Clarke? She takes in strays now. It’s her thing." Raven said.

The idea of Bellamy in her apartment was simultaneously one of the best and worst thoughts to cross her mind all evening. Clarke sat a little straighter in her seat. "Totally fine with that. I love strays."

"We’re not strays," Bellamy says, teeth clenched. "We have our own apartment to go back to, _right Murphy?"_

"You could at least walk us up?" Raven hedged, eyes now locked on Murphy.

He was nodding now, smile growing smug on his face. "I mean, we wouldn’t want them getting lost or anything Bellamy..."

"Great!" Raven said, opening her door and clambering out before anything else could be said.

Murphy let out a bark of laughter before climbing out too. Clarke looked back to Bellamy who was now resting his forehead against his steering wheel looking defeated. She felt bad. And disappointed. Clarke fiddled with her sleeves. "You don’t have to come up if you don’t want to."

Bellamy turned his head to look at her and she met his eye. He smiled a little. "It’s not that. It’s just been a long day."

Clarke nodded, not quite believing him. "Okay,"

"Come on Princess, let get you inside."

They got out of the car to the sound of Raven complaining that it was cold and they were slow. She rushed to Clarke and closed her door before linking their arms and pulling her towards the double door entrance to the building. They stumbled through the snow on the way, clinging to each other. She could vaguely hear Bellamy and Murphy behind them talking but couldn’t bring herself to care what they were saying. Clarke tripped on the way to the elevator, bringing her and Raven sprawling to the ground in a heap.

Raven was laying on her stomach, face pressed against the cool tiling of the floor. Clarke had rolled over onto her back and blew some hair of out her face. The two looked at each other for a handful of seconds. "Ow," Clarke mumbled. Then they both started laughing and couldn’t seem to stop.

"Alright, come on, up you go," Murphy says, pulling Raven to her feet and holding her steady. 

Bellamy had his hands reached out to take Clarke’s and she eyed the exasperated smile playing at his lips. She grinned at him, taking his hands and letting him pull her upright. They were big and warm and a little rough against hers. The sudden thought of his hands gripping at her thighs left her verging on breathless. She held eye contact and drew her lip between her teeth. Clarke watched as his eyes dropped to her mouth for several long seconds before quickly looking away. He dropped her hands, reaching instead to place one of his on the center of her back and leading her over towards the elevator that Raven was dragging Murphy to.

Clarke pushed the button with a faded 3 and the doors pulled closed. As the elevator moved she stumbled a little, grabbing the rail behind her to keep steady. Her stomach turned at the sudden shift and she swallowed hard. Dread filled her slowly. No, she would _not_ get sick on this elevator. No, no, no, no, no.

When the doors open Clarke quickly made her way through them and into the hallway. She took a second to remember which way to go before rushing to her door on the left. Fumbling with the lock she heard the others coming up behind her.

"Do you want-?" Bellamy offered, moving next to her and his hand came up but she shook her head quickly.

"No, I- I can-" The locked mercifully clicked and she pushed the door open. Clarke rushed through the dark living room and cursed loudly as she stubbed her toe on the coffee table before making it to the bathroom and slamming the door.

She dropped to her knees, jerked the seat up, and heaved.

Clarke wasn’t sure how much time passed, her body jerking involuntarily forward with each wave of sick. She rested her head back against the wall eventually. Limbs heavy and fuzzy. Throat burning. Nose running. Face wet with tears.

A quiet knock came on the door and Clarke grunted, cracking an eye open as the door creaked. Raven’s head popped in, frowning. "Hey, you okay?"

Clarke groaned, eyes too heavy and falling shut again. "I’ve definitely been better." She heard Raven slide in and shut the door behind her. She sat on the edge of the tub near Clarke and nudge her arm with something cold. She opened her eyes again to see it was a bottle of water and took it gratefully. She guzzled half the bottle before putting it on the ground nearby.

"Bellamy is heading out," Raven said. "He wanted me to make sure you were okay before he left. But, um, would it be alright if Murphy stayed?"

Clarke eyed her friend for a moment. "Yeah, of course, if that’s what you want."

Raven avoided her gaze, nodding a little. "Yeah, I want him to stay."

"Then he stays," Clarke shrugged. She bit her lip. "Could you, uh, thank Bellamy for me? For bringing us home and stuff."

Now Raven looked at her, smirking a little. "Not for making you want to climb him like a tree?"

Clarke felt her face redden but couldn’t bring herself to deny it. "I mean, if it comes up," she joked half-heartedly.

Raven laughed quietly and stood, arm on the door for support. "You’re not coming out then?"

She shook her head. "I don’t think I’m done yet."

The other girl grimaced but didn’t comment. "Alright, well I’ll be out there if you need anything." 

Clarke made a sound of acknowledgment, closing her eyes again. The door clicked shut and she let out a sigh. She wondered briefly if she should have told Raven not to have Murphy stay but shook the idea away. Raven probably knew what she was doing. And Murphy seemed to genuinely care about her friend. Even if he was kind of a dick. Her mind went to Bellamy and she felt that sting of disappointment again. At least he had wanted to make sure she was okay. That was nice of him. If she had disgusted him enough he probably wouldn’t have even bothered, right? Not that she was in the position to do any of the things she wanted with him currently anyway. As if to prove that point her stomach churned ominously.

She leaned forward again, absently hoping that (if and when the time came) Raven and Murphy were going to use Well’s old room instead of potentially ruining her couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter to go! Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!


	5. Hangovers and Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last one, thank you so much for reading!!

The first thing Clarke was conscious of when she woke up was the yelling.

The second was the absolute ungodly _pounding_ in her head.

She whimpered, covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut tighter but it only made it worse. She pushed herself up, looking around blearily at the soft white and lavender of her surroundings. She must have fallen asleep on the bathroom floor. There was a blanket pooled in her lap and _why_ were the lights so damn bright?

She was never drinking tequila again, never. Another pathetic whimper fell from her lips before the muffled shouting pierced the room and got her attention again. Clarke crawled forward and pushed the door open, resting her head against the carpet and listening now that the words weren’t muffled by the slab of wood.

"I said get out!" Clarke recognized Raven’s voice and stiffened.

"You said it was okay!" said the second voice. Murphy. He sounded frustrated and panicked and something else. "Listen, I-I wouldn’t have- but _you_ said- you _asked_ me to! You said-"

"I know what I fucking said," Raven snapped. "And now I’m saying I want you to leave."

"No," Murphy growled. "We need to talk about this."

"I don’t want to talk about it!" she shouted. Clarke pushed to her feet with enormous effort.

"Well I do!" he retorted. "I’m not Finn, Raven, so no. I’m not going anywhere."

Clarke stumbled into the living room just in time to see Raven, wrapped in a blanket, throwing all the couch pillows across the room at Murphy. "You’re such an asshole!"

"And you have terrible aim." he snarks, dodging her throws easily. He was naked aside from his underwear. "So we both have faults."

"Hey!" Clarke shouted, alerting them to her presence and sending a spike of pain from behind her eyes. "What the hell is going on here?"

They both stopped to look at her. "Nothing," Raven said immediately. She let go of the cushion in her hand and dropped to her knees in front of the couch to search for her clothes.

Murphy scoffed, grabbing his pants off the floor and yanking them on. "Right. Sure. Nothing."

Clarke stood there awkwardly, head aching and unsure how to begin accessing this situation. "Okay… um, breakfast?" she offered weakly.

"Murphy was _just leaving,_ actually," Raven said, standing up, somehow fully dressed again.

"Like hell I was," he snapped back, pulling his shirt over his head. "I’d fucking love breakfast, thanks, Clarke."

Clarke didn’t move, like a deer caught in headlights. A hungover deer.

"She’s not making you breakfast," Raven hissed. "You’re leaving."

"I’d have to wait for Bellamy or Miller to come get me anyway so-"

"I texted Miller twenty minutes ago to pick you up. He should be here any minute."

"You-?" Murphy froze, gaping at her. Then his face went hard. "Wow. I guess you had this all figured out huh?"

Raven didn’t say anything, but Clarke could see her avoiding his eyes. She probably shouldn’t still be standing here. She should give them some privacy or something, right? Her legs didn’t move.

Murphy huffed a dark, furious laugh out from across the room. He grabbed his shoes. "Unbelievable. I can’t even _believe_ -" he stopped short, jaw clenched and eyes flashing before he continued on evenly. "I meant what I said last night. But I’m not playing games with you. I’m not pretending everything's fine. I’m not interested in preserving our fucking _friendship_. That’s never been what this was for me and you know it. You know how I- fuck it, whatever. Look, I meant what I said. So if you were just scratching an itch or something… fine. I hope it was worth it."

Murphy grabbed his coat and left without another word. The slam of the door rang in the silence, punctuating his exit.

Clarke moved towards Raven slowly. The other girl was staring at the closed door, face unreadable. "Raven?"

"I don’t want to talk about it." Raven snapped, turning to face Clarke quickly.

She held up her hands. "I’m not asking you to."

Raven’s shoulders sank in relief. "Good,"

There’s an awkward beat of silence. Clarke smiled hesitantly before wrapping an arm around Raven and giving a small squeeze. "So in other news, my head is literally bursting at the seams and I want to die. Want some toast?"

Raven let out a scoff. "You can not handle your alcohol at all."

Clarke frowned. "I did alright. Until, like, the end."

"Come on, Princess," Raven said, rolling her eyes and leading her towards the kitchen. "Let’s get you your toast."

Clarke pulled the butter and a knife out with some plates while Raven stuck pieces of bread into the slots of the toaster. As they waited Raven started cutting up an apple while Clarke rested her face against the soothing coolness of the fridge. "How are you not hungover like me?"

"Well, I drank more water than you throughout the night. And took some ibuprofen before bed." Raven listed, ticking off her fingers as she went. "Plus, I threw up off your balcony about an hour ago, which helped a lot."

Clarke snorted faintly. "Mr. Ragalski is gonna tape a strongly worded letter to my door if you ruined his plants."

Raven waved her knife around, unphased. "I’ll send him a fruit basket or something."

"He only eats organic," Clarke deadpanned.

"Jesus," Raven muttered. "How do you even know that?"

Clarke winced as she peeled her face off the fridge when the toaster popped. She shrugged. "I see him on the elevator sometimes. He takes his cat out for walks a lot and he’s chatty about all the things he hates."

"He takes his cat on walks," Raven repeated slowly. "Like on a leash?"

"No, he just carries it," Clarke explained while slathering butter on the toast and stuffing more bread in the slots to make more. "Something about fresh air and squirrels."

"Are you fucking with me?" Raven demanded.

Clarke laughed but stopped abruptly at the pain in her head. "Ow. No. And don’t make me laugh."

Raven shook her head but said nothing else. Clarke took a bite of toast and sighed in relief at the absence of nausea. She watched as Raven carefully arranged her apple wedges into a perfectly spaced spiral and wondered if she did this every morning. A thought struck her and Clarke stood up straighter. "You don’t have anywhere to live."

Raven’s eyes shot up in surprise before a scowl curled her lips. "I’m sure that came out ruder than you intended." she drawled with annoyance.

Clarke rolled her eyes. "You came back to move in with Finn. Do you have another plan?"

The other girl looked away pointedly. "Of course I have another plan. I’m going to talk to Octavia about crashing for a few days and then-"

"You should move in with me." Clarke blurted.

Raven stared for a beat, mouth open. "What?"

"I need a roommate. And you’re my friend. Also, you’re homeless." Clarke said, fighting the excitement building in her chest.

Raven leveled the knife at her. "Call me homeless again, Princess."

Clarke ignored her, grinning widely. "It’s the perfect solution."

"Except we’ve known each other for like five seconds." Raven scoffed, though she was smiling too now. "Jury still hasn’t decided if you’re nuts or not, remember?"

Clarke raised a brow. "You’re the one with the knife."

Raven paused. "Fair point."

"So?" Clarke pressed. "What do you think?"

"I’m in," Raven said after a few seconds of silence. "On one condition." Clarke waved for her to continue and Raven smirked. "We’re getting cable back. I need to watch you watch Cops for myself. Deal?"

Clarke ignored the pain in her head at the laughter she couldn’t bite back. She held out her hand and they shook on it. "Deal."

The girls finished their breakfast quickly after that. Clarke took something for her headache finally before each of them took one of Raven’s bags from the living room and heading to Wells’s old room. Clarke hadn’t gone in it since he left the previous week. It was spotless and empty save for the neatly made bed that he left behind. Clarke smiled a little at the memory of his faux-haughty claim that he earned the right to buy a king size bed now that he’d be living on his own. She made a mental note to call him later to fill him in on the last 24 hours.

She was pulled out of her thoughts of her old friend by her new friend. Raven was looking around the room doubtfully. "So you’re saying someone actually lived in here?"

Clarke chuckled. "Yeah. Wells is just… neat."

Raven looked at her in disbelief. "More like certifiable. There aren’t any even indents in the carpet."

"He cleaned them when he left with one of those little machines. I think that gets rid of them?" she shrugged. "I don’t know."

Raven stared at her like she didn’t believe her before shaking her head. "Nevermind. Help me with my clothes?"

Clarke nodded, sitting on the ground next to Raven’s suitcase and handing her various articles of clothing and folding others as directed. They didn’t chat much and Clarke’s mind wandered back to the previous night for the first time. Back to Bellamy. She almost groaned aloud. Some of the conversations were fuzzier than others but the memory of her vomiting loudly with him in her apartment was crystal clear. Embarrassment colored her cheeks with the realization that she probably wouldn’t be able to avoid seeing him again. Raven and Bellamy seemed to be friendly enough and with Raven living here, Clarke was sure she’d be around him at some point. What a mess.

Clarke glanced at Raven, chewing her lip. She looked away, unfolding and refolding a tank top as she tried to keep her voice casual. "Hey, Raven?"

"Yeah?" came the muffled response from within the closet.

"Are you actually friends with Bellamy? Or are you just friendly through Octavia?"

There was a beat of silence and Clarke held her breath. Then Raven started laughing. "Very subtle."

Clarke huffed, glaring resolutely at the ground.

Raven leaned against the doorframe. "We’re friends. He called and caught up with me every few months while I was away at school and everything. He’s funny. Good in bed too."

Clarke choked, head flying up. Her eyes met Raven’s amused smirk. "You-?"

She laughed a little, shrugging. "It was years ago; the first time Finn cheated on me. I came home to see him for a weekend and walked in on him and a girl I knew from high school. Octavia was still living with Bellamy then, so I went to see her but she wasn’t home. I was sad and he was there and it just sort of happened. I thought it would make me feel better."

"Did it?" Clarke asked despite herself. The mood in the room had shifted.

"No," Raven said after a moment, crossing her arms and looking away. "Not really. But I thought it made us even, you know? Like he cheated, and now I cheated too so I could go back to him and it would be fair."

Clarke waited a minute before asking her next question hesitantly. "Is that why you slept with Murphy last night? So you and Finn were fair again?"

Raven’s eyes cut to Clarke’s again sharply. "I could never be even with Finn at this point."

She pulled her lip between her teeth nervously but found herself pressing on all the same. "So why did you?"

Raven avoided Clarke’s gaze now as she grumbled. "I don’t know."

Clarke frowned. "At the risk of overstepping, I don’t think that’s true."

"Well, what do you think then?" Raven asked, tone rough.

"I think he cares about you. And that it felt good to be cared about after everything with Finn." Clarke said quickly, staying firm despite the buzz in her nerves.

"So you think I was just using him, too?" Raven accused just as quickly.

"I didn’t say that." Clarke pointed out.

"Good, because I wasn’t." Raven snapped.

"Okay," Clarke said simply to try to diffuse some of the tension.

It was silent for a few long minutes before Raven sighed loudly, dropping to sit on the floor across from Clarke looking defeated. "He said he loves me," she scoffed.

"And you don’t think he does?" Clarke questioned.

Raven rolled her eyes, muttering. "John Murphy does not love me. That’s ridiculous."

Clarke blinked, unsure of what to say. "Oh…kay…"

Throwing her hands up exasperatedly, Raven continued. "I’ve known Murphy forever. He’s never shown an interest in me like that."

"Okay, well how do you feel about him?" Clarke asked, curious.

Raven chewed the inside of her cheek. "We get along well enough because we can both be dicks. He’s… He’s Murphy, Clarke. He’s always just been around."

"I don’t know him at all really," Clarke said, changing tactics. "What do you know about him?"

Raven heaved a sigh, rubbing a hand across her face. "I don’t know. He’s- He’s the same kid that used to push me off the swings in elementary school at recess every day _._ He got into fights in the cafeteria all the time. He thinks that _Slytherin_ is the best Hogwarts house." She rolled her eyes at that. Raven paused then, thinking outloud. "He, uh, broke both arms two weeks apart during one summer in middle school I think. He hates raw onions but loves onion rings, which makes literally no sense to me but whatever. He... can cook really well, surprisingly. And I remember he took the fall for Octavia when she got caught with pot in her locker in high school. He said he put it in there. He got suspended for a while over it." Clarke watched a small smile pull at her lips. "Oh, and he’s really into collecting colored golf balls. Whenever we go mini golfing he tries to get everyone to give up their balls instead of playing the last hole. And he does this thing sometimes that I love where he’ll move something in the room and see how long it takes someone to notice. I always know that he’s done it though because he gets this stupid look on his face. And-"

"Sounds to me like you know a lot about him," Clarke said innocently.

Raven gave Clarke a flat look. "None of that is important stuff, Clarke. I don’t know about his aspirations or his family or his previous relationships or-"

"I’m just saying," Clarke said, a little smug. "That he’s not just someone that’s around. You notice him. You _care."_

Raven rolled her eyes again, voice falsely flippant. "Whatever, it doesn’t matter anyway. He doesn’t want anything to do with me now. It’s done."

"You could... oh, I don’t know… talk to him?" she said sarcastically.

"Clarke," Raven said, voice quiet and serious suddenly. "I can’t right now, okay?"

Clarke sighed dropping the subject for the time being. "Fine, I get it. Just… think about talking with him. I saw the way he looked at you last night. It’s not done unless you want it to be."

Raven gave a small nod before changing the subject quickly. "Speaking of the way people look at each other… You and Bellamy? You oh-so-casually brought him up earlier?"

Clarke groaned, dropping her hand in her hands. "It should be illegal to throw up audibly in front of someone so beautiful. I need to be imprisoned."

Raven snorted. "At least you didn’t throw up on him."

Clarke threw her a flat look. "Yeah, thanks."

Raven’s phone chimed and she fished it out of her pocket and read the message, face confused. "Octavia says she has your phone?"

" _My_ phone? How?" Clarke asked with wide eyes. When had she lost her phone? She couldn’t remember when she’d last seen it, come to think of it.

"How should I know? She just said ‘Tell Clarke I have her phone.’ so-" The phone chimed again.  "And ‘Also, she needs a better passcode than 1234.’ Seriously, Clarke?"

Clarke scowled. "It’s easy to remember!" She snatched the phone from Raven, reading the messages herself before Raven jerked it back. She called Octavia and put the phone on speaker. It rang once, twice, and then a high cheery voice answered. "Hello! Thank you for calling the Princess Help Hotline! Press one if you’re experiencing problems with the level of sleek shine in your long, blonde hair. Press two if there are just too many small woodland creatures coming to your aid. Press three if you have been locked away in the tallest tower or-"

"I get it, I get it!" Clarke screeched while Raven was nearly doubled up with laughter. "How did you end up with my phone?"

Octavia’s voice dropped back to normal. "I’m with Bell. You left it in his car. Is this a modern day glass slipper thing?"

"Shut up, O." Bellamy’s deep voice grumbled from the background and Clarke died a little inside.

Raven smirk was smug as spoke with a regal tone. "Oh yes. He’s to crack the code on her mobile device and call every contact one by one to request a blessing upon their union."

Clarke’s face was in flames. "Raven!"

Raven laughter mingled with Octavia’s. Octavia continued after a moment. "No, but seriously it’s 2019! How do you not have a better passcode than 1234? Plus your tits are on this thing! I mean really, Clarke? Lock it up tight. What if I was some freak that found it and diddled myself all over-"

"You _saw_ -? Oh my god," Clarke wilted into a heap on the carpet. "If the floor could swallow me up now, that would be great."

"It really was an accident, I swear, I closed out right away. But the quick look gave me the distinct impression that they’re very high-quality, Clarke. You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about." Octavia said conversationally. "Plus your hair is the right length for some really tasteful-"

"Octavia!" Bellamy barked.

"I’m just saying, throw a black and white filter over it and you could probably sell- OW! Jesus, Bell, fine!" Octavia said. "Clarke, Bellamy wants me to tell you that he thinks they’re very high-quality also."

Clarke groaned and Raven roared with laughter as Bellamy spluttered. "No, I don’t!"

"You don’t think Clarke’s got a great rack?" Raven questioned innocently. "Or you didn’t want her to know that you think she’s got a great rack?"

"No, I didn’t- I just meant that I-" Octavia was giggling loudly at his stammering. He cleared his throat, and suddenly his voice sounded closer. Clarke suspected he snatched the phone from his sister. "Clarke, I would like the record to show that I _did not_ look at _any_ of the pictures on your phone and therefore have no opinion on the contents."

"Noted, splendid, thank you," Clarke said, voice two octaves too high.

"We’ll be at your house in ten with your phone. So I’ll, um, see you soon?" Bellamy said hesitantly.

"Yep, yeah, definitely, I will totally be here!" She said loudly.

Raven shot her an unimpressed look and let out an indelicate snort. "Totally. Bye, Blakes."

She hung up and Clarke avoided her gaze determinedly. Raven scooched over to poke her a few times. Clarke glared up at her and Raven grinned winningly. "There’s a little vomit on your shirt if you want to go change." Clarke looked down self-consciously, horrified. Raven chuckled. "I’m kidding. You should still probably go change though."

Clarke glared some more before a pout took over her face. She pushed to her feet and made her way to her room without another word. After pulling on clean leggings and a large t-shirt Clarke hurried to the bathroom to brush her teeth, wash her face, and try to fix her wild hair. She forced herself to casually walk into the living room only to find Raven had fixed the couch cushions at some point and was flipping through her recently watched section on Hulu with a slice of cold pizza from their leftovers. Before she could comment there was a knock at the door. She quickly went over and yanked the door open to reveal Bellamy and Octavia. "Hey!" she said with a fake smile that threatened to split her face as she stepped back so they could come in.

Octavia’s eyes flicked up and down her once. She snorted but offered no other comment as she swept past Clarke and flopped down next to Raven on the couch. Clarke looked back to Bellamy to see him scowling at his sister before his eyes met Clarke’s sheepishly. "I’m sorry, she’s-"

Clarke shook her head, flailing her arm a little nervously. "No, no it’s fine. She’s fine. I’m- it’s fine."

"Right," he said slowly as he looked at her. Clarke prayed her face wasn’t as red as it felt. He smiled a little. "So how’re you feeling? After last night?"

"Exhausted," she said truthfully with a little laugh. "Thanks again for giving us a ride. I’m sorry I was..." What? Inappropriate? Not very low-key? Exceptionally horny? "Such an annoying drunk, as you put it." She inwardly patted herself on the back.

Bellamy smirked a little, bumping his shoulder against hers. "You weren’t that bad. It was... fun."

She snorted. "Something tells me you don’t use the word ‘fun’ that often." Clarke teased, relaxing some.

He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck briefly. "Yeah, maybe." His grin grew a little cocky. “I’ve been told grumpy is a cute look on me though.”

Clarke was confused for a beat before realizing he was referencing their conversation from the previous night. She pointed a finger at him jokingly. "I believe the term I used was _weirdly_ cute."

Bellamy shrugged. "I’ll take what I can get." He smiled, tucking his hands into his pockets before visibly realizing something. "Oh," He quickly pulled his hand out and handed Clarke her cell phone. "Here, before I forget to give this back."

Clarke took it, smirking a little. "Yeah, I wouldn’t want you to have an excuse to come back too soon or anything."

Bellamy eyed her, trying to fight off his grin. "Yeah, of course. Wouldn’t want that."

Clarke watched as his eyes darted down to her mouth for a second too long before meeting hers again. She took the smallest of steps closer to him.

"This is my new favorite show."

"Same."

Clarke jumped, having forgotten both Octavia and Raven were sitting a handful of feet away on her couch. They both had slices of cold pizza now.

"Hey, Raven, why don’t you tell O how you slept with Murphy last night?" Bellamy suggested lightly.

Octavia’s eyes doubled in size and she spun around as Raven threw Bellamy a filthy look. "I’m sorry, _John_ Murphy? As in… As in _John Murphy_? I knew it! I knew the two of you had some kind of dormant bubbling below the surface type thing!" Octavia shrieked.

"Fuck you, Bellamy," Raven griped. "Also, _bubbling below the surface?_ Who even talks like that?"

Bellamy grinned, eyes moving back to Clarke with the faintest redness coloring his cheeks. She bit back a smile and led him into the living room, gesturing for him to sit next to Octavia on the couch as she dropped into an armchair.

Clarke watched as Octavia peppered Raven with a slew of questions. Raven rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, answered nothing, and pointedly asked her how her night went with Lincoln while tossing a victorious grin Bellamy’s way. His face instantly dropped with disgust as his sister gushed about the bartender. As she listened to their bickering and banter Clarke was struck suddenly by how much had changed in a day.

She had thought she was content with her life. She had a cute, charismatic boyfriend, sure. And a job that felt fulfilling most days. But she also had a very empty apartment she couldn’t afford. And her childhood best friend (her only friend, she’d come to realize) had just moved to a different state. She spent most of her time while not at the hospital alone or chasing after time with Finn. Or trying not to think about her family. Clarke hadn’t realized just how lonely and sad she was.

And then she met Raven, who was snark and sarcasm coated kindness. Clarke had never felt so comfortable with another person so fast, not even Wells. Raven had brought her wit and her compassion and her friends and her oddities and her temper and her friendship and filled up gaps in Clarke’s life that she hadn’t even known existed.

"Clarke?"

"Hm?" she said, returning her attention to the couch.

The Blakes were arguing but Raven was grinning at her, pizza box outstretched towards her. She gave it a little tempting shake. "Last piece of pepperoni. Want it?" Clarke nodded, grabbing the slice with a grin in return. The pair returned their eyes to the squabbling siblings.

She never could have seen any of this coming, but as unlikely as it was the last twelve hours had started a new chapter in her life. And it was cheesy and cliche and dumb but Clarke couldn’t help feeling optimistic about whatever was coming next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! Well, sort of. I have more ideas for snippets after this that I'll post as I write them but that's it for this portion of it! Please let me know what you think, and thank you so much for reading!


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